


Episodic Memory

by elflordsmistress



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Humor, Occasional angst, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-18 21:47:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 19,918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28999260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elflordsmistress/pseuds/elflordsmistress
Summary: On the one year anniversary of their departure from the nation's capital, CJ shares a thought with Danny about how they might celebrate.
Relationships: Danny Concannon/C. J. Cregg
Comments: 71
Kudos: 20





	1. The Suggestion

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Luppiters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luppiters/gifts).



> About ten years ago, my husband and I reminisced about our first kiss over an anniversary dinner. Needless to say we couldn't agree on the way it actually happened. I was thinking about that conversation last night, and I thought it might be fun to try this out with CJ and Danny. At first I thought I'd fill in the gaps for missing kisses two, three, and four - and then the dialogue started in my head and .. well, you’ll see shortly where it went.
> 
> _Episodic Memory _is defined as a category of long-term memory that involves the recollection of specific events, situations, and experiences. Your memories of your first day of school, your first kiss, attending a friend's birthday party, and your brother's graduation are all examples of episodic memories. Since this is all based on a tv show with episodes, the title feels appropriate.__

_**Los Angeles, California  
January 21st, 2008  
Early evening  
** _

CJ wriggled against Danny until he raised his left arm and wrapped it around her shoulder.

“What are you reading?”

“African Road 2006.”

“You're reading about infrastructure?” 

Danny shook his head as he showed her the cover and pointed at the words _new writing_ under the illustration.

“Young writers who are citizens of any country in the SADC region.”

“What, like Angola, Botswana .. ”

“Mauritius, Swaziland, Zimbabwe .. and so on. They had over two hundred entries for the award, they published around thirty." 

He folded the sheet of paper he’d started taking notes on, and placed it inside the book.

“It showcases and develops local and regional reading. I figure if you end up coming and going for the next few years, there’s gonna be more than a few opportunities to see these places up close and personal.”

“Not to mention a few dinners where you'll be saddled with the responsibility of keeping the conversation going.”

“I’d settle for not embarrassing myself. Or you.”

“You like to be prepared ..”

“I do.”

“I like that about you.”

“That _all_ you like about me?” he asked as stuffed the book into the side of the couch and kissed the side of her head.  
  
“I like your taste in _beer,_ too. Can I have a sip?”

“Sure.”

He reached for the bottle on the table next to the couch.

“You know, I can’t believe we’ve been here a year,” CJ said as she took a swig.

“Yeah.”

“We should celebrate.”

“You mean like a dinner?”

“Something to remember how far we’ve come,” she said as she reached up to kiss him. “Don't you ever wonder how we made it?”

“No. I know _exactly_ how we made it. I was tenacious,” Danny said with a chuckle.

“I’m not joking.”

“Neither am I.”

They exchanged a sideways glance and made a mutual decision not to go down _that_ rabbit hole.

“So .. how do you want to celebrate?” Danny asked.

“How about we both make suggestions .."

"Okay, you go first.”

“Why do I always have to go first?”

“Because I love hearing you ask why you have to.”

“You’re a very silly man, you know that?” she asked as she pressed a kiss against his earlobe.

“So you keep telling me. _No cop outs_ ,” he growled. "Suggestions, go!" .."

CJ thought about it for a moment and then sat up straight. 

“I read something in a magazine on the flight home from Johannesburg last week that I thought was interesting ..”

“What was it?”

“An article about people recreating significant relationship moments.”

Danny smiled.

"Not only did people remember things differently, which proved _vastly_ entertaining, it also helped them talk about unresolved issues. And then they had more, _and better,_ sex.”

“ _More sex_ .." Danny mused. "I gotta ask, is this wise? Cause, you know, you already struggle to keep your hands off me.”

“That’s true,” she conceded with a slight incline of her head, before taking another swig from the beer bottle.

“I’m already perpetually exhausted as it is ..”

“I’ll remind you of that when you want loving at some godforsaken hour of the night.” 

She handed the beer back.

“Okay, let’s hear _your_ suggestion ..”

“I kinda like where yours is going, actually.”

“Really?”

“Yeah."

“It _would_ be fun to see what you remember differently than I do.”

“Do you anticipate our retellings will be _that_ different?”

“I don’t know. Probably? Depends how far back we go, I guess? What’s it been since our first kiss?”

"You don't remember how long it's been since our first kiss?"

CJ stared at him for a moment, and then swatted him on the shoulder and took the beer bottle back.

"Stop it! You're winding me up."

“Okay, so here’s what we’re gonna do,” Danny said as pulled the piece of paper back out of the book. “We’re gonna make a list.”

“A list ..”

“Not a mental list, a _real_ list. We’re gonna make a real list, stick it on the fridge, and work our way through it. Every .. Sunday night?”

“You mean like a date night ..”

“Yes."

"Okay, Sunday nights sound like a good way to end a week and start a new one."

"You’ll need to come prepared.”

“Prepared _how_?”

“Do you still have your suits?”

“Some. I donated a few of them before we left. But hang on .. what if I don’t remember what I was wearing? I can’t even remember what I had for breakfast yesterday!”

“If you don’t remember what you were wearing, ask me.”

“You remember what I was wearing? Every time we kissed?”

“Investigative reporters have an eye for detail. Part of the job description.”

“Are all of these re-enactments going to end up in bed?”

“Some of them could, I guess. Are you worried about your suits? I'll be carefu -”

“Not that. I'm just wondering .. how would we make the leap? Our first kisses were very chaste. ”

“You call the State of the Union kiss _chaste_? You cut off circulation to my hand!”

“You almost ate my face!”

“That’s cause you started stalling and I was desperate.”

"Desperate to hear the speech," CJ said with a roll of her eyes.

"You're welcome to keep believing that if you want," Danny said as he uncapped his pen. _"Now_ .. off the top of your head .. how many of these episodes do you remember?”

“ _Episodes?"_

"It's called _episodic memory_ , CJ."

"You know about this stuff?"

"You walked off the plane with the magazine," he said with a grin. "You may have left it lying around."

"Do you think we'll be any good at it?"

"We'll be great," Danny said as he started writing. “ So .. we've got .. State of the Union, midnight in the press office, the closet, the exclusive, the aide hitting the sand traps in Carmel, the podiu -“

He stopped abruptly.

“ _What?_ ” CJ asked.

“What about the times you wanted to kiss me but didn’t? Should those go on the list?”

“What about the times _you_ wanted to kiss _me_ but didn’t?”

“Well in that case, what about the times when you wanted me to kiss you _first_ so you wouldn’t have to do it?”

“But you didn’t, so those don’t count, right?”

“To be determined.”

“Can we add the times I _fantasized_ about kissing you?” CJ asked.

“You fantasized about kissing me?”

“That second year in office? You have no idea.”

"I had fantasies of my own," Danny chuckled.

"Put those on the list."

“Okay. What about the times Carol wanted us to kiss?”

"You make her sound like some kind of voyeur."

“Nah, I think she had money riding on it. The voyeur would be Gail.”

"Don't be ridiculous!”

“Hey! She was a captive audience _at least_ three times, per this list. _And_ it was probably all magnified through her bowl. If we’re putting fantasy kissing on here, we should assume she had a few of her own.”

“You’re losing the plot ..”

“So that’s a yes then,” Danny said as he added it to the list. “Now, what about the copier room?”

"And all the times we shoulda just kissed and made out instead of screaming at each other ..”

“So we’re talking do-overs as well ..”

“Those will _definitely_ end up in bed! _Where are you going?_ ” she asked as he got up from the couch.

Danny threw his hands up in the air.

“We’re gonna need a bigger piece of paper ..”


	2. State of the Union

**_CJ's home office_ **

**_Evening of Sunday, January 27th 2008_ **

“What do you want, Daniel?”

“ _State of the Union_ tonight,” he said with a waggle of his eyebrows, as he leaned a thigh against her desk and slid the list towards her.

“Your enthusiasm is making me nervous.”

“Performance anxiety?”

“That’s your department.”

“That was a low blow.”

But he was smiling, so she knew he’d caught the reference to the disaster of a date they’d had in late 2006.

She closed her computer and came round the desk.

“I know this was my idea, but - “

“We don’t have to do this, you know,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her backwards into him. 

“It's just .. it feels like it’s a barometer of our relationship.”

“What set you off?”

“Seeing _state of the union_ at the top of the list.”

Danny pulled the list off the desk and looked through it.

“I can see how that could be a metaphor,” he said after a moment’s thought. “I’ll change it to something else.”

“Okay.”

“Found your suit?”

“No. But I do have the necklace.”

“Don’t show up just wearing the necklace, okay? Don’t wanna fluff my lines out of an inability to focus.”

“I still have the combo from the business dinner. I can pair it with a skirt. Best I can do. Take it or leave it.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Oh, and just to be clear, I’m not walking into the door. Your ego is already big enough as it is.”

“You’re saying I can’t throw you off balance any more?” he asked as he kissed the nape of her neck.

“Where’s my fish?” 

“You’re deflecting.”

“Gotta start getting back into Press Secretary mode.”

Danny laughed out loud.

“The fish will be in position by the time you’ve changed.”

“ _You got a fish?_ "

“Yeah. We said props, right?”

“I know. I just figured ..”

“I’m a details guy, CJ. I got a fish. Although I do have a question.”

“What’s that?”

“How the hell did Carol and Margaret get those decorations in without emptying the bowl every time?”

“They had the biggest tweezers you ever saw. They were both very particular about not getting their cuffs wet.”

“Okay then."

“Okay. I’m gonna go change.”

She started to walk away and then turned back.

“Are you sure that’s what you were wearing?”

“I have no idea. I only remember what _you_ were wearing.”

She opened her mouth to respond and then shook her head.

“So you’re gonna ..”

“Go get the fish and wait here.”

“Okay.”

“Okay."

Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door.

“Yes?”

“It’s CJ.”

“Okay.”

“Can I come in?”

“CJ, this is your office.”

“Right.”

She entered the room, looking as delightfully awkward as he remembered, and cleared her throat.

“Hello.”

“Hello.”

“So, you have asked me out forty-nine times, I have said no.”

He thought about correcting her, but the fact that she remembered approximately how many times he’d asked her out was cute, so he let it go.

“You said yes once.”

“That was a business dinner.”

“Okay.”

“ _I think you stuck your hands in your pockets here_ ,” she whispered.

Danny complied.

“Nonetheless,” she continued as she moved closer. “I do seem to have a preoccupation. A _girlish_ , I suppose, thing. _You had your arms crossed by now_. Which, and please don’t be misled in any way by anything -”

“ _You started to gesticulate here_ ..” he observed

“In fact, let me put it this way ..”

Danny dropped his hands to his sides.

“CJ, I was supposed to write about the speech tonight. My paper’s going to want me to, you know, see it. So if there’s any way you can move this along. _You know what, you were staring at my mouth more when I was talking_.”

“ _What?_ ”

“ _You were staring at my mouth._ ”

“ _I was not. You were staring at mine._ ”

“ _Actually, no. You were the one doing the propositioning. I was just the guy standing there being .. propositioned._ ”

“ _Whatever. Keep going, you're distracting me._ ”

“CJ, I was supposed to write about the speech tonight. My paper’s going to want me to, you know, see it. So if there’s any way you can move this along ..”

“I thought what I’d do is kiss you. You know, on the mouth. And then I’d just .. get past it.” She squinted ever so slightly. “I’d just get past it. And I’d be able to give my work the kind of concentration it really deserves.”

“Okay.”

“How’s right here?”

“That’s fine.”

“Be careful of the fi - _you really did get a fish!_ ”  
  
“ _Focus! We’re coming up to the good part._ ”

“ _Right._ Be careful of the fish ..”

“Sure ..”

“No, I’m saying because if you rock against the eh -“

He put a hand to the back of her head and pulled her in for a kiss.

“ _CJ, what are you doing?_ ”

“ _What?_ ”

“ _Why are you slipping me tongue?_ ”

She had the good grace to look embarrassed as she shrugged.

“ _Force of habit?_ ”

“ _There wasn't any tongue. Again .._ ”

“Be careful of the fish ..”

“Sure.”

“No, I’m saying because if you rock against the eh-“

He put a hand to the back of her head again and kissed her.

Her hand reached for his and squeezed it as tightly as he remembered.

“How’s that? he asked when they broke apart.

“Oh, good.”

“Past it?” 

His hand lingered in her hair for a just a moment.

“Yeah.”

“ _You know that’s the wrong answer, right?_ ”

He pulled her face towards him and kissed her again.

“Past it?”

“Yeah.”

He was about to pull her face towards him again when he stopped and grinned.

“ _Are you saying that so I’ll keep kissing you?_ ”

“ _Yes._ ”

He pulled her face towards him and kissed her one more time.

She pulled both of their hands into the space between them this time, as she had on the night of their first kiss.

“How’s that?”

“Oh, good.”

“Past it?”

“No.”

He gave her the smile that always made her insides flutter.

“I have a question ..”

“What?”

“Were you sporting one of these that night, too?”

He shivered under her touch as she ran their joined hands over his groin.

“You didn’t notice?” he asked incredulously.

“Guess not,” she said with a wicked smile as she picked up the fish bowl. "I gotta go now."

“CJ, taking that fish with you?”

“Yup ..”

The door closed behind her.

“ _Hey! It’s not nice to leave a guy with an erection just standing there_ ,” he wanted to call after her.

Until he realized that the following Sunday would roll around soon enough.

And that whoever said that turnabout was fair play was absolutely right.


	3. Past Midnight In The Press Room

_**Home Office in CJ & Danny's**_ _**House** _   
_**Sunday, February 3rd 2008** _

Danny looked up to find CJ standing in the doorway, her arms wrapped around herself.

“What’s going on?”

“There’s something I need to tell you before we move down the list.”

“You bailing on me?”

“No. I .. just have to come clean about that night.”

“Come clean?

“I lied to you.”

“You did?”

“Remember when you walked into the press room ..”

“Yeah ..”

“And I was there and told you that I wanted to apologize for the unprofessionalism in my office and that it would be best to -“

“Maintain a purely professional relationship? Yeah. _That_ lasted all of five minutes.”

“That not why I was there, Danny.”

“Why were you there?”

“I .. went to the press room, sometimes, when I was sure everyone had gone home.”

“ _Why?_ "

She took a deep breath and looked at him a little shyly.

“It smelled of you.”

“Um .. that was all Katie.”

“Katie?”

“Well, Katie and Chris.”

"Press Corps Katie and Chris?”

“Yeah. They were on a mission up hook me up with anything female that moved. That month it was Bonnie.”

“ _Toby’s_ Bonnie?”

“Or maybe it was Bobbi. She was a reporter. Short brown wavy hair which curled at the ends?”

“I remember her.”

“I’d started using a cologne that apparently she really liked. _They_ started spraying it in the press room before they left in the evening .. so that it would smell just enough of me in the morning to set the tone for the day. She liked to come in early. They were sadistic like that.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“They’d be delighted to hear they got a twofer.”

His shoulders shook with laughter until he saw the look on her face.

“I resisted Bobbi's advances. In case you were wondering."

"I wasn't."

"Wanna know why _I_ was still there so late that night?” he asked gently.

“Why were you still there so late that night?”

He smiled at her.

“I knew _you_ were working late. Was hoping you’d find a reason to come by. When you didn’t, I took a walk to your office."

“Really?”

“Yeah. That’s why I wasn’t in the press room when you first got there. I was looking for _you_.”

“If we’d been anywhere but the press room I might have jumped you that night.”

He inclined his head at her.

“Well you kinda did, didn’t you?"

He watched in amusement as her eyes widened.

“ _You knew?_ ”

“It’s kinda hard to miss that the woman you’re kissing is having an orgasm, CJ.”

Deep colour suffused her cheeks.

“You didn’t say anything.”

“First of all, I didn’t even know that was a _thing_ ,” he continued. “Second, you practically bolted. Third, I couldn't understand how the hell it happened so fast.”

“Remember I told you, lots of fantasizing that second year in office. I was primed and ready before I even came down there. And the smell did me in.”

“Nothing to do with me, then.”

“Absolutely nothing.”

She closed the distance between them.

“So ..” he said as he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Are we gonna just stand here and talk about it, or do you wanna see if we can pull it off again?”

She considered the idea for a moment.

“Put on the cologne?”

“I can do that.”

“It’s the -“

“I know which one it is. It makes sense now why it’s your favourite. I’ll be right back. Anything I can do to _prime_ you before I go?” he asked suggestively.

“In the spirit of authenticity I think I’ll prime myself. Give me fifteen minutes and then come back. Bring your A game, Concannon. We can level up with this one.”

He chuckled and left the room.

“Fifteen minutes,” she called after him.

“Ten,” he called back. “And dim the lights. It was past midnight in the press room.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was torn about whether to continue it or leave it there. In the end I figured I'd filled in the gaps for missing kiss #2. It's good to leave a few things to the imagination.


	4. The Turn On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The CJ|Danny scenes in the episode this is based on crack me up every time I watch it, despite the very heavy ending. This takes us a little outside of the spirit of the chapters in the series up to this point, but there has to be room for a little improv.

_**CJ and Danny's House** _

_**Sunday, February 10th 2008** _

She watched from the doorway to his study, waiting for him to notice her.

He was tapping away at his computer, and she wondered how much longer this feud, of sorts, was going to stretch out. It had been almost a week since a difference of opinion with one ex-colleague over an op-ed penned by another ex-colleague had escalated into a pissing contest.

She could count on the fingers of one hand the number of times she’d seen him backslide into dogged White House reporter mode in the past year.

It usually lasted the length of a heated argument between the two of them; in the course of which she’d always been able to break him from his funk.

This week, however, she was having no luck, and it was driving her insane by degrees.

She’d never admit it to him, but she liked him all riled up.

The hard set to his jaw, the way his mouth moved, the way he enunciated his words. Even cologne smelled different on him when he was angry.

In a misguided attempt, she’d floated the idea that maybe John Gill had a point. When this had not gone down well, she’d backtracked and said that he was giving John too much importance. 

And now he was pissed with both of them.

Part of her worried that this was a time-delayed response to leaving his life in DC behind, but there was no easy way to broach the subject under the current conditions.

“Danny?”

“Yeah?” he replied without looking up.

“It’s Sunday night.”

His hands hovered over his laptop.

“Do you want to give it a miss tonight?”

He turned to look at her in what felt like the first time in four days, and she felt motivated to go out on a limb before he had the opportunity to take her up on the offer.

“Do you remember the fight we had in my office the night before we headed out to Rosslyn?”

“Yes,” he answered warily.

“Let’s put that on the list for tonight.”

“I don't remember wanting to kiss you that night, why would we put it on the list?”

“You’re right, you didn’t. But you did get a few things off your chest. And you’re angry with me tonight, too.”

She watched his eyes narrow briefly before he went back to typing.

"Danny?"

"I'm thinking."

"Okay."

“Do you still have those ridiculous glasses?” he asked after a while.

“As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Your office or mine?”

“Mine.”

“Okay then. Twenty minutes?”

“Ten.”

* * *

With the exception of her hair, she looked pretty much as he remembered. Grey pant suit, blue silk blouse, the glasses that he hated. Even the necklace seemed right. 

She was even juggling folders and stuffing them into a bag.

“Take it from how long you covered the White House,” she said, without looking up.

“ _What?_ ”

“ _I’ve covered the White House for eight years_ .. take it from there.”

“I’ve covered the White House for eight yea-"

“You were angrier.”

“I’ve covered the White House for eight yea - that wasn’t a good night, CJ. You really want to do this?”

“I really do,” she said as she pulled the folders out again.

“I’ve covered it for the New York Post, The -“

“Angrier!” she said as she slapped a folder down so hard she made herself jump. 

Now he raised his voice - although as much out of frustration as anger, since he really couldn't see the point in all of this.

“I’ve covered it for the New York Post, The Washington Post, Time Magazine, and The Dallas Morning News, and I’m telling ya you can’t mess me around like this.”

“Danny, I gotta tell ya,” CJ said as she removed the glasses “that was .. _seriously_ .. that was a turn on when you said that. Though I’m not sure why you decided to be your most _haughty_ on The Dallas Morning News in that sentence.”

“ _CJ_ ..”

She saw it on his face the moment he realized what she had just done.

 _Gotcha,_ she thought to herself as she swept past him.

“Carol said the buses were leaving so ..” she walked back and whispered, “ _the buses are leaving_ ” into his ear.

His hand snagged her wrist before she could move, and he maneuvered her up against the closest wall in a heartbeat.

“Either you’re telling me to take myself less seriously,” he growled in her ear “or -“

“I need you back from whatever the hell it is you have going on with that prick from _The Dallas Morning News_ , Danny. Not to mention that it will be better for your blood pressure.” 

“You know what _isn’t_ good for my blood pressure?”

“What?”

“ _You_ goading me. _So_ .. either you’re telling me to take myself less seriously, or this turns you on.”

He ran his eyes over her face and tested his theory by separating her knees with one of his own and rubbing gently against her.

She moaned involuntarily.

"It turns you on .." he marvelled.

“God, Danny, you haven’t touched me all week ..”

“That’s not a reason to goad me,” he mumbled as he licked her outer ear before sucking an earlobe gently.

She opened her mouth raggedly against his cheek as she tried to latch on to any part of him that she could; gasping the moment she felt his hand at the back of her head. 

Instinctively she knew that he was protecting her from hitting the wall too hard when he kissed her, but she wasn’t expecting his other hand to pull the shirt out of her pants and snake around her waist.

The kiss, when it came, was crushing.

A fusion of frustration, anger, and a hint of desperation - wrapped up in sensory overload.

“You know if we don’t take this to bed right now it’s going to end up being a dry rub against the damn wall,” he breathed in her ear as he moved his hands to her buttocks and pulled her up against him.

"I can live with that."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Valentine's Day ❤︎


	5. Carassius auratus - part one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm splitting this into two because I can only write so much before my brain starts getting antsy.
> 
> There is an episodic memory in this tale - it should come out in part two.
> 
> Nairobi is eleven hours ahead of Los Angeles.

_**Los Angeles, California | Nairobi, Kenya** _

_**Sunday, February 17th @ 7am | 8pm (local time)** _

“It’s nice when the time difference works in our favour ..” CJ said as she stretched out on the hotel bed and hugged a pillow.

“It is.” 

“So what’s your pick off the list for today?”

“Fantasy.”

“Yours or mine?”

He was about to tell her that the bed would feel lonelier than it already did if they talked about their own fantasies - but her night was just about to start, she had a busy day ahead, and he could think of no reason to burden her with that information.

“I was thinking Gail’s.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah. We talked about this. She was a captive audience three times, I am sure she had ideas of her own.”

“I thought the attention span of a goldfish was three seconds.”

“Myth. Research studies have shown that goldfish have a memory that can last at least three months.”

“Really?”

“They also possess the ability to differentiate between various shapes, colours and sounds.”

“And you know this _how_?”

“Read a report by a biologist from Edinburgh.”

“When do you have time to read reports about fish?”

“You think I bought you Gail without doing any research, just because Josh said you liked goldfish?”

“I never really thought about it.”

“Some goldfish have been observed to perceive and remember well enough to distinguish between people. They get excited when they see them. Gail would eat right out of my fingers. Why do you think I dropped by to see her so often?”

“So all those times you showed up, it was just an excuse to see Gail ..”

“Not always, no.”

“Nice save.”

“Anyway, fish have long-term memories that help them keep track of existing social relationships that are relatively complex.”

“Did you just make that up?”

“I did not.”

“You read that in the report, too?”

“A website by some guy out of Australia.”

“ _Now you’re reading websites_?”

“Hey, we’re legit goldfish owners again. It seems like the right thing to do.”

“You’re not going to let this go, are you?”

“C’mon, we can make it a sweet little bedtime story.”

“As long as I don’t have to start,” she said quickly.

“I’ll start. I always was more romantic than you anyway.”

“Part of me wants to take offence to that, Danny.”

Danny laughed, then added a little more seriously “and let’s keep it G-rated. A bit of kissing and what have you.”

“ _Why?_ ”

“I don’t want to think of Gail being sexually frustrated in her bowl.”

“Fish feel sexual frustration?”

“I felt great sexual frustration.”

“You’re projecting your feelings onto a fish?”

“We’re getting off topic here.”

“You started it.”

“You know what, this was a stupid idea. I’ll remove Gail from the list and you can pick next weekend. What time is it?”

“Just past 8pm.”

“Don’t you have a meeting with the people from _Human Rights Watch_ pretty early tomorrow?”

“Not early. At one o’clock.”

“Remind me what’s on the agenda ..”

“Election campaigning in Zimbabwe.”

“Mugabe?”

“ _Raring to go and raring to fly_.”

“Won’t be the last thing to come out of his mouth, I’m sure.”

“Yeah.”

“Listen, you should probably get a good night’s sleep. I’m going to catch a few more zzzzs myself. Speak to you tomorrow?”

“Okay.”

“CJ?”

“Yeah?”

“Miss you.”

“Miss you, too.”

She replaced the phone in its cradle, but tossed and turned for a long time until she fell asleep.

* * *

**_Nairobi | Santa Monica_ **  
**_Monday @ 6am | Sunday @ 7pm_ **

She was halfway through replaying the conversation in her head as she showered the next morning when it occurred to her that she’d allowed Danny to steer her away from something that had been important to him.

She actually hated when he did this, and then got angry at herself for not being aware enough in the moment to recognize that he was doing it.

It had been an adjustment going from putting something off for seven years to taking the leap and transitioning into living together so soon afterwards.

She reminded herself that she was growing into the quirkiness of their brand of pillow talk - but there were moments when it felt as though her learning curve was steeper than it ought to be. 

Case in point, last night.

She stepped out of the shower and checked the clock before reaching for the phone.

Her call was picked up on the first ring.

“Margaret?”

“Yes.”

“Sorry to bother you at home on a Sunday night.”

“What do you need?”

CJ paused for a moment and then asked, “do fish have fantasies?”

There was a longer pause on the other end than CJ had expected. 

Surely she’d called the right person. 

There had to be some story she could spring on her to help her out.

“ _Do fish have fantasies_ ..” Margaret said slowly, clearly turning the question over in her mind. 

Then she gasped.

“ _Margaret?_ "

“It wasn’t Carol’s idea. It was mine.”

“ _What_ wasn’t Carol’s idea?”

“Reading to Gail.”

“ _What?_ "

“That’s not why you’re asking about fish fantasies, is it?”

Her next call was to Carol - who didn’t pick up.

It took her three tries to get through.

“Is there anything you want to tell me?” she asked, knowing full well that Margaret had already given her the heads up.

“Not really.”

“You _read_ to Gail?”

“Yes.”

“ _That_ kind of story?”

“Yes.”

“ _Why?_ "

“We thought she needed the excitement.”

“You mean _you and Margaret_ , right? _Primary caretakers_ of said fish.”

There was suspicious silence on the line.

“Carol? _We_?"

Carol cleared her throat.

"The ELS."

“ _ELS_?”

“Erotic Literature Squad,” Carol mumbled.

“There was a _squad_?”

“Yes. Of Executive Assistants.”

“You two and Bonnie, Ginger, Cathy, and Donna?”

“And Marni. Debbie only joined in the last eighteen months.”

“ _The President’s Debbie_?”

“She walked in on us one night. We had to let her in the group.”

“Y _ou read porn to my fish fifty feet from the Oval Office?_ ”

“Danny told us in the early days it wasn’t good to move the fish around, so we - ”

“ _Hang on_ , are you telling me that _Danny_ knew about this club?”

There was more suspicious silence.

“Can I plead the fifth?”

“ _Tell me Danny didn’t know_ ..”

“He came in to say goodbye before he left for the first time and we were .. moving Gail back to your desk from the coffee table. We didn’t tell him, but I know he saw the books in everyone’s hands.”

CJ groaned.

“There’s more ..”

“What _more_ can there possibly be?”

We may have .. um .. started to ..”

“May have started _to_ ..”

“Invent our own stories after that. About you and Danny. So she wouldn’t, you know, forget him. Or only remember the fights. He never knew that though. We were worried about confusing her after he left the second time and Ben seemed to be becoming a thing. So we ..”

“Went back to regular porn?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.”

“That’s it?” 

“Yep.”

“Sorry. Bye. Sorry”

Carol seemed relieved to be let off the hook so easily, but CJ’s mind was racing at a million miles a minute as she looked at the clock.

She had a few hours to kill, and it would still be Sunday night for him when she made the call.

It gave her great pleasure that they'd be sticking with the program.

 _I'll give you G-rated_ , she thought as she flipped her laptop open and started to type.

She'd lull him into a false sense of security with an episodic memory - and then make him count the hours till she got home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone else feel as though we need another installment of 'The Executive Assistants' - with them reading to Gail?


	6. Carassius auratus - part two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anything in full italics is Gail. And, bloody hell, writing Harlequinesque frustrated fish fantasy was harder than I thought it was going to be 😬

_**Nairobi | Los Angeles** _  
_**Monday @ 11.30am | Sunday @ 10.30pm** _

“Fishboy!”

“Hey!"

“Still awake?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t expecting you to call. Meeting not happening?”

“It’s happening, but I was thinking about what you said. It’s still Sunday night there, so we’re in time for Gail’s fantasy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Thought I’d send you off to sleep happy.”

“Okay. Want me to start?”

He sounded so gleeful she almost felt bad.

“No, I’ve got this.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Put a lot of thought into it.”

“You did?”

“Mhmmm. Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m going to do voices, okay?”

“There are voices?”

“You, me, Gail.”

“It’s a live action fantasy?”

“Who’s telling this story?”

“You are. Sorry.”

“Okay. Here goes. It's called _Living vicariously: a goldfish fantasy_.”

Danny snickered.

“Reel it in, fishboy!”

“Was that the first line?”

“That was a .. regrettable turn of phrase.”

“Okay, sorry. I’ll be quiet now.”

“Thank you. Hey!”

“Hey!”

“Oh my God, Danny, stop!”

“You said hey the way you always say it. I thought you were talking to me.”

“No more talking, okay? Stuff a sock in your mouth if you have to.”

“Now there’s a thought for a fantasy.”

“Do you want to hear this story or not?”

“Yes.”

“Hey!”

“Wanna have dinner?”

“I remember this!”

“Danny!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “I got excited. Wasn’t sure which memory you were going to pick.”

“Danny, so help me ..”

“Got it. Sssshhh.”

“Hey!”

“Wanna have dinner?”

“With you?”

“Yes.”

“I have to read a report on sex education.”

“Hey!”

“I’m anticipating any joke you could possibly make right now and I’m not finding any of them funny.”

“You know, eventually you’re going to have to go on a date with me. You can’t just keep grabbing me and kissing me." 

“I didn’t grab -"

“Well you can, I’m not gonna mind or anything.”

“I didn’t grab you, you grabbed me ..” CJ said as she stood up.

“First time. Second, third, and fourth times you grabbed me.”

_“Hello?!? Second, third, and fourth times? Where was I?”_

“All week long, just randomly grabbing me and kissing me.”

“ _Atta girl! Grabbing and kissing. There’s hope for you yet_.”

“Like I said, I applaud the spirit, but there’s better things ahead .. as I’m sure you’re about to read.”

“ _Tell him about pages twenty seven through thirty three, CJ. He’ll enjoy thinking about what girls can do_.”

“Wait.”

“ _Tie action. This is gonna be good. Okay .. small intake of breath from both of them as they break apart. **Oh come on**!”_

Gail looked forlornly after Danny as the door closed behind him.

“Listen to this, Gail. The average age for initiating sexual activity has remained around seventeen or eighteen since the early nineties. The net effect, this report concludes, is a substantial increase in premarital sex.”

“ _Premarital sex, yes. The kind you should be having a lot of!_ ”

“You okay there, Gail?” CJ asked as she peered into the bowl.

“ _No, I’m not okay! What kind of lame ass sendoff was that? **You can go now?** What is this, the Principal's office? And you had the audacity to look at me before you sat down, too? And then you just went back to the report like nothing just happened in here! _”

“You look a little bit agitated. Did Danny make you nervous touching your bowl?”

“ _ **You’re** making me nervous! What kind of a woman in her prime lets **that** go out the door?_”

“You know, abstinence-based curricula often reinforces gender stereotypes about female passivity and male aggressiveness,” CJ mumbled as she made notes in the report.

She peered at Gail again.

“You’re moving around an awful lot. Did I forget to feed you? Are you hungry?”

“ _I’m hungry for action, CJ! Why can’t you be like the women in the stories? You know, Margaret’s gals with their red leather and their whips or Marni’s vampire novel. Even though I think she picked it because the girl the vampire bit was called Claudia. What’s the matter with you?!? He was right here and Carol went home a while ago._ ”

“Marriage, and delaying sex until at least adulthood, are good goals,” CJ huffed as she made more notes in the margin.

_“You’re an adult, you don’t need to delay anything, and I need to live vicariously through you. Bonnie and Ginger are driving me nuts with their Arab sheikhs, Italian counts and Greek tycoon Harlequin nonsense. Lady Chatterley got some, the lady in Carol’s book with the blindfold and a fridge full of food got some. The people in Donna’s Regency novels? They got some, too!”_

It became clear that CJ wasn’t paying any attention, so Gail skulked around her bowl. 

When she couldn’t take it anymore, she swam up to the side of the bowl.

“ _Inquiring minds need to know, CJ. I only saw one kiss after State of the Union. Where does that fall chronologically? Was it number two, number three, number four? And for the record, whatever number kiss that was in here two days ago, it was lame too! You need help, my friend_.”

CJ took a break after a while. 

“I should have gone to dinner with Danny, ” she said conversationally to Gail as she tossed the report aside and picked at the wilted salad left over from lunch. 

Gail shook a fin.

“Are you agreeing with me?” CJ asked with a small laugh as she ran her finger across the bowl. “I think the kissing needs to stop, too. It’s getting out of hand.”

Gail came to a hard stop in the middle of the bowl

“ _You call **that** out of hand? You need to beg them to let you into the group!_”

"One of these days he’s gonna come in here and I’m gonna jump him, Gail.”

“ _Couldn’t you have jumped him tonight while you had motive, opportunity .. and an eager audience?_ ”

“It will get messy and all kinds of angsty. My reputation will be in tatters, he’ll get fired. And then it won’t go anywhere because we’ll be too busy blaming each other. What do you think? “

CJ laid her chin on her crossed wrists and seemed to be waiting for an answer.

“ _I think I would enjoy watching you jump him. In fact, let me tell you how tonight should have gone down .. for future reference."_

_..._

_Danny walked in and invited CJ to dinner._

_She turned him down in favour of a date with a sex ed report._

_Dismayed, but not deterred, the plucky reporter pointed out that after all the grabbing and kissing that had been taking place, a date would have to follow at some point. He made it clear that he didn’t mind the manhandling, and then moved on to the most uninspiring shop talk in the history of shop talk._

_Advance men, helicopters, a beach full of pebbles, golf. And sand traps._

_CJ shared his concern for a hot second, and then yanked him towards her for a kiss that did not last nearly long enough, but ended in an intake of breath at both ends._

_“You can go now,” she said as she fixed his tie._

_“No problem,” he said as he half stumbled away._

Somewhere in the background the phone rang, but CJ ignored it. 

_CJ regretted her decision as soon as he had moved out of arm’s reach and yanked him back by his suspenders._

_“Stay right there.”_

_It took her seconds to close the blinds in her office, and when she was done she shrugged her jacket onto her chair and took up her position in front of him again._

_“These are buttons right, not clips?” she asked as she inserted fingers into the waistband of his pants._

_“You could just slide them off my shoulders,” Danny said, looking directly into her eyes to see how far she was planning to go.  
_

_“What would be the fun in that?” she whispered before darting her tongue into his ear as she unbuttoned the suspenders at the waistline._

_She went after his tie next, and then unbuttoned his shirt far down enough that she could run her fingers over his skin._

_“Feel free to start working on my clothes whenever your wits return to you. My shirt’s already half undone as it is.”_

_She revelled in the feel of the shirt and tank top straps sliding off her shoulders but wasn’t ready for the feel of him pushing her breasts together and burying his face in them. She gasped and tumbled backwards against the shelving units as he ran his tongue up her cleavage._

_One hand undid the buttons on her suit pants, the other one insinuated itself between her underwear and her bottom._

_“Do you want to lock the door?” Danny asked.  
_

_“No. The risk factor is a turn on.”_

_“You want to know a turn on for me?”_

_She had his shirt off completely now, and was running her hands all over his shoulders._

_“Yeah,” she said as she stepped out of her pants._

_“When I fantasize about you, you say my name over and over.”_

_“Danny,” she said as he suckled gently on a nipple._

_“Just like that.”_

_She fumbled with his pants until he took pity on her and divested himself of whatever clothing he had left._

_“Floor? Sofa?”_

_“I don’t think I can handle friction burn on top of all the nonsense in the sex ed report.”_

_“Sofa then.”_

_CJ shimmied out of her underwear and let him roll her tank top down her waist and off her legs before he led her to the couch._

_The feel of his knees against the underside of her thighs was electric, but watching him stroke himself with one hand while looking straight into her eyes was almost her undoing._

_“I don’t want our first time to be on a sofa in your office,” he whispered._

_“Okay, but I need to touch you and I need you to touch me.”_

_“And I need you to look at me while we do that."_

_The intake of breath wasn’t shallow now._

_I_ _t rose and fell as they stroked each other; punctuated only by his name falling off her lips at regular intervals.  
_

“Danny ..”

CJ became aware of several things at once.

She was completely soaked, she was throbbing mercilessly, and she wanted desperately to hear Danny moaning and falling apart at the other end of the line.

But Danny was silent - and it took her another moment to realize that there was dead air on the line and that the hotel phone was still ringing in the background.

“Hello?”

“Hey! The line dropped. I’ve been trying to call back since then. I heard as far as me stumbling away. What happened next?”

CJ groaned as she fell back against the mattress.

"I'll email it to you."


	7. Texas - part one

_**Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library** _  
_**University of Texas, Austin** _  
_**Thursday, February 21st 2008 @ 7pm** _

Carol was waiting for her at the entrance.

“Woah!” CJ said as they walked inside.

There was no room to move inside the lobby and they had to fight their way through.

“This is going to be standing room only. We need to get in there and take our seats before they let people in. This way ..” 

Carol whispered something to the man standing at the auditorium doors. He smiled and nodded curtly at CJ before letting them through.

“Why is the Secret Service here?”

“You’re not the only person surprising Danny tonight. Abbey’s here.”

“He doesn’t know?”

“The only people who know are the organizers and her security detail.”

“So all those people out there ..”

“Are here to see Danny,” Carol replied with pride in her voice as she led her down the left aisle to a seat in the seventh row. "This is what you wanted, right?”

“Yes. I don’t want to be close enough for him to see me.”

“You know he’s going to .. _smell_ you or something, right?”

“I’ve learned that lesson. Not wearing his favourite perfume tonight.”

“It’ll be something else. You’ll be on his radar in five minutes.”

“Not with Abbey here to distract him. And anyway, as far as he knows I’m not coming back from Nairobi for a couple more days.”

Carol angled her head as she considered that.

“We’ll see.”

CJ was looking around, wondering how the renovations slated for 2010 would change the look and feel of the place, when the sound of people shuffling into the auditorium drew their attention to the back of the room.

“You weren’t kidding ..”

“I think every student and every alum of the _School of Journalism_ is here. Not to mention faculty. There’s probably quite a few members of the public, too. Oh, and I’m pretty sure I saw Katie Witt and Mark O’Donnell in the crowd. I think they’re an item now.”

“Really?”

“Would it be weird to go on a double date with them?”

“I have no i-”

“ _Here we go_ ,” Carol said, tapping CJ’s knee excitedly as the lights over the seats dimmed slightly and the ones over the stage rose.

CJ felt a flutter of nervous excitement in her belly as Danny walked out on the stage, preceded by the Director of UT’s School of Journalism. 

He looked a little stunned when he heard mention of a special guest - but it was nothing compared to the awed surprise on his face when Abbey Bartlet walked out onto the stage.

The people in the auditorium hung on her every word as she explained why holding this event in the _Lady Bird Johnson_ Auditorium had been important to Danny and to her on so many levels.

“I didn’t know _that_ ,” Carol whispered when Abbey went on to tie in the fact that not only had the former First Lady graduated in journalism _summa cum laude_ from the University of Texas, her goal had been to become a reporter.

The audience cheered - and then laughed heartily when Danny interjected to let slip the fact that Lady Bird Johnson sharing a name with his partner may or may not have tipped the scales in favour of the venue.

“ _He knows_ ,” Carol said, looking at her watch. “And that’s .. three minutes and forty-seven seconds.”

“No way.”

“Watch him. He’s looking for you. Aaaaaaaaand .. he’s seen you,” she said as she picked CJ’s hand up and waved it at Danny. “Aww .. look at him light up. Okay, now he's just showing off for you.”

“Will you be quiet and let me enjoy the moment?” CJ hissed as she settled in to enjoy the lecture.

* * *

The line for the book signing was impossibly long, and CJ was starting to feel the strain of twenty hours of travel. 

“CJ!”

"Abbey!"

“Jed sends his love. Made me pinky promise to invite you up to the farm for a week. Now that the book is done he’s concerned we’ll never see you - or Danny - again.”

“Not much chance of that, I’d say.”

“He’s so very proud of the work you’re doing, you know. ” She looked her up and down and added, "when’s the last time you slept?”

“I just got off a plane a few hours ago.”

"The Gulfstream, I hope."

“Yes, but I was too nervous about tonight to really settle.”

“You were nervous about tonight? _He did great_. Look at him - lapping it all up like a pro. He has them eating right out of his hand. Sales are going great tonight!”

They looked over to the signing together where the _nth_ woman of the night was getting her copy personalized.

“Will you join us for dinner?” CJ asked.

“God, I’d love to, but we’re getting on the road to Houston in a few minutes.”

“What’s in Houston?”

“I’m visiting the health clinics that the city opened when Matt Santos was Mayor.”

CJ looked at her watch as she said “that’s, what, a three hour drive?”

“Better now than tomorrow morning.” Abbey kissed her on the cheek. “Call Jed? He wants to know how the Zimbabwe projects are going, and he’s a nervous nellie every time he knows you’re out there.”

“Okay.”

“I’d suggest you go nap in the auditorium. It’s going to be a few hours before you can get your man out of the clutches of the ladies.”

CJ laughed and gave Abbey one last hug before turning to assess the size of the line one more time.

A nap was starting to sound like a really good idea so she floated the idea past Carol - who agreed.

She snuck back into the auditorium and curled into a seat at the back, planning to get some shut eye for twenty or so minutes.

“ _CJ .._ ”

The feel of someone calling her name shook her out of sleep.

“Hey ..” 

Danny was kneeling in the aisle, running his hand over hers.

“Hi ..” she breathed as she reached for him and clutched him tightly.

“Hi.” He drew back and looked at her for a long moment before pulling her in for a kiss. “God, I missed you.”

“Take me back to the hotel and show me how much?”

“I can’t. At least not yet. I have to get back out there, and then I have dinner plans with my agent and the organizers. I wasn't expecting you. Do you and Carol want to go with us, or do you want to go out to dinner by yourselves and then I’ll see you back at the hotel?”

“I’d rather go with you.”

“Okay. I’ll let Barbara know.”

“How long have I been out?”

“About an hour.”

“And there are _still_ people out there?”

“It’s a zoo. I said I needed a bathroom break, but I have to get back to the table. Maybe another hour of this and then dinner. Actually , you know what, why don't I cancel dinner. I can meet them tomorrow morning for breakfast. They’ll understand, and you’ll be too jet lagged in the morning to even realize I’m not there.”

“Don’t cancel.” 

“I’m cancelling. You look exhausted. And if you really want to go to dinner when I’m done, it will be just the two of us.”

“Okay.”

As he stood to leave she grabbed the sleeve on his jacket.

“Danny?”

“Yeah?”

“What gave it away?

“You laughed.”

“ _Everybody_ in the auditorium laughed.”

“Yeah well, I can pick your voice out anywhere, anytime. It just took me a moment to locate your actual position.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“I’ll get this wrapped up as soon as I can. Get some more sleep.”

* * *

She stepped out of the auditorium around fifty minutes later, feeling a little more human. 

The lobby had emptied out, and Danny was now standing in the middle of a group of women. 

She recognized Barbara, his agent, and the director of the School of Journalism, but the other three were unknown to her. Danny was holding court in that easy way that was second nature to him, and the women around him were responding as women always did.

Curling their hair behind their ears a little self-consciously, flashing shy smiles at him, preening just a little, and then throwing their heads back and laughing at one of his jokes.

“Ms. Cregg?”

The man standing at her elbow introduced himself as the university Provost, and shook her hand with enthusiasm.

“I’m sorry I didn’t realize earlier that you’d be in the audience tonight.”

CJ could feel a request coming on, so she simply shook his hand and waited.

She didn’t have to wait long.

“I do hope we can tempt _you_ to give a talk to our students sometime.”

She was trying to come up with a diplomatic answer when she felt Danny’s eyes on her.

He winked at her from across the room and excused himself before walking over to her side.

“Ready to go?” he asked as he put a hand to the small of her back.

“Yes. I’ll just call for the car?”

“Sounds good. _Thank you_ ,” he said as he extended a hand to the Provost.

“Thank _you_. Please tell me you’ll think about my request,” the man said to CJ before shaking her hand again.

“I will. _Good night_ ,” she said as she pulled a phone out of her coat pocket and placed a call.

A few moments later they were sitting in the back of a town car and she relaxed into Danny.

“Well that was fun to watch,” he teased.

“What?”

“I love it when men look at you with awe in their eyes.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“It's - don’t worry about it.”

“No, I’m serious.”

Danny shrugged. 

“Men like it when other men admire their women?”

“ _Why?_ Because they like it when other men’s women admire _them_? Like your little gaggle tonight?”

Danny laughed.

“What can I say? Women want me.”

“I recall you saying that once before.”

Danny suddenly had the acute sensation that he’d walked into a minefield.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing."

"I’m overtired and I’m saying nonsense. Let’s just drop it, please?”

“Okay.”

* * *

Danny waited till the end of dinner to bring the subject up again.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked as he reached across the table for her hand.

“I don’t know.”

“I think you do.”

“It’s stupid. It usually doesn’t bother me.”

“What doesn’t usually bother you?”

“Watching women fawn over you.”

“They weren’t fawning over me. They were flirting with me.”

“And you were flirting back.”

“If you consider paying them a few compliments, accepting theirs and teasing them a little, flirting back, then sure. I’m sorry it bothered you.”

“I don’t know why it did.”

“I don’t know either. It felt like you were gone longer than usual this time, even if you weren’t. Maybe you felt it, too. Maybe it’s because date night got botched by the telephone debacle. Loved the story, by the way. It read like one of the romances my sister would stash under her mattress.”

“Now you’re making fun of me.”

“If you’re feeling up to it, we can try it when we get back to the hotel.”

“It isn’t Sunday.”

“So it’s Thursday, sue me,” he said as he signalled the waiter to bring the bill. "If we can't improvise once in a while, we'll grow into crusty old people."

“ _Actually_ ..” 

Something in her tone made Danny look up from his wallet.

“Yeah?”

“I’d like to introduce something new into the list.”

"O-kay?"

“It's a memory from a conversation that didn’t happen with you.”

“I don’t follow ..”

He listened as she explained, and his eyes sparkled in amusement.

“How about this? We’ll do yours if we can combine it with another two of ours."

She listened to what he was proposing and all the grumpiness fled.

"What do you think?" he asked, after she'd had time to consider.

“I'd say you’ve got yourself a deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to guess which two memories are going to get combined next ..


	8. Texas - part two

_**The Driskill Hotel** _  
_**Brazos Street, Austin TX** _  
_**11pm** _

“ _I’m dying here_ ..” Carol said from her perch stool at the bar. “Although I gotta say, I’m enjoying this wing woman business.”

Carol had found it pretty amusing when CJ had called her for tips - even if they’d ultimately had to get Margaret on the line for proper pointers. It had been the redhead’s idea that Carol avail herself of the opportunity to have some fun, too.

And so here they were - two elegant women seated at the bar in the crown jewel of Austin’s hotel scene.

“Considering all the drinks coming your way, I think we can agree that _I’m_ the wing woman here,” CJ said with a laugh. 

“You may be right,” Carol said as she ran a hand under her hair and shook the tresses gently across her shoulders. “It won’t be long now,” she predicted as she made smouldering eye contact with a man standing by the fireplace and raised her glass in his direction. “Not to mention that I think you need to save your significant other soon.”

CJ glanced down the bar, where Danny was being chatted up by a woman who had clearly lost her understanding of personal boundaries to alcohol.

“Yes.”

“ _Oh_! Here goes,” Carol said as the object of her admiration moved towards her with purpose in his stride. “You’ll be okay here if I decide to make a go of it?”

“Yes.”

“ _Hi_ ,” Carol cooed as the dark haired man leant against the bar on the other side of her.

He drawled “ _evenin’ ma’am_ ” in a way that made her toes curl.

CJ smiled into her drink and looked down the bar again.

The woman who had been there a few moments before was nowhere to be seen, and she took the opportunity to ask the bartender to send Danny a drink.

She nursed her own for a while longer, enjoying the arousal pool as Danny ate her up with his eyes.

When she couldn’t stand it any longer she moved to his side - and stood so close to him she could feel his breath flutter across her neck when she leaned forward across the bar.

“Is this what people do?” she whispered. “I’m a bit out of practice.”

“You’re doing fine.”

On a whim she reached up and undid her chignon; smiling when he tugged discreetly at her skirt and pulled her into the space between him and the bar.

“I take it you don’t mind if I flirt with you?” she said as turned to face him and leaned back onto her elbows.

“Isn’t that why we’re here?”

“I’m really just here for the eye sex.”

“Same.”

But his right hand made contact with the back of her knee as he spoke, and CJ had to blow out a small breath to stay on an even keel.

“ _God, Danny_.”

“Shouldna done that thing with your hair.”

His other hand found its way to the hem of her skirt and lingered there; teasing her until he wrapped both hands around her leg and used his thumbs to sensitize her skin.

“I can’t do this, Danny.”

“I know.”

“I really can’t do this Danny ..” 

“Nobody can see what I’m doing.”

“They’ll know if I moan.”

“Are you planning to?”

“I’m hanging on by a thread here.”

“Okay, so how about this?” he said as he stood from his seat 

He scrawled _#121_ onto a napkin and slid it next to her drink.

“I’ll leave the door open,” he whispered into her ear before walking away.

* * *

Memories of the Wednesday night she’d shown up at his door rose in Danny’s mind as he watched her standing in the doorway with the light from the hallway bouncing off her hair.

He chose - as he had that night - to let her lead.

They’d agreed not to talk, but he knew exactly what she wanted when she turned away and looked back at him over her shoulder.

He dropped a kiss to the nape of her neck as he tugged slowly on the zipper. Sliding a hand around the flat plane of her stomach when the opening was large enough.

The little gasp of pleasure as he moved his hand downwards was followed by a sudden turn in his arms, and her lips brushed softly against his as he maneuvered the dress down and off her.

She nipped gently at his jawline and neck, and he understood that she was asking for the tender kind of loving she needed when she was overwhelmed or tired, or both. 

He undressed himself and led her to bed; watching her watch him remove what remained of her clothing, and wondering if she realized how tired she actually was. She’d never fallen asleep on him, but he'd already reconciled himself to the fact that tonight might be the night and was fine with that.

Her eyes closed, but just as he was about to turn out the light she reached for his hand and placed it between her legs. 

He kept his face mere inches from hers. Admiring her determination to stay awake and loving the way her breathing became agitated.

When his own needs became bigger than him, he slid into her; losing himself in the eyes that spoke silent volumes to him until they dilated and their worlds blurred around the edges and merged.

“Danny?”

“Yeah?”

He pulled the covers up around her when he saw exhaustion start to exert its final tug on her.

“What time is it?”

“0-dark hundred on Friday morning.”

She mumbled something that he couldn't quite understand.

"Didn't quite catch that," he said as he leaned closer.

“I said, should I tell Toby that I picked you up in a bar last Thursday?”

Danny spooned up behind her and stroked her hair as she fell asleep.

“I think that should be our little secret.”


	9. Redux

_**CJ and Danny’s House** _ _**in** **Los Angeles, California** _   
_**Sunday, February 24th 2008 @ 11am** _

CJ pulled the list off the fridge door and looked it over as she waited for the coffee to percolate.

It was a toss up as to whose night it was to pick a memory, since they’d both had wish fulfillment a few nights earlier, but she wanted first dibs.

Danny had started to cross out the memories they’d covered, and she smiled as she ran a line through _Wednesday Night_. 

As she was doing so, one item jumped out at her.

She squinted slightly as she raised the paper up to the light in the hope of figuring out why Danny had felt the need to black something out so thoroughly.

He was still asleep when she crawled back into bed a few minutes later, and she propped herself up on an elbow and watched him.

She’d been watching for a while when a hand snuck onto her thigh under the covers.

“If I kiss you, will you taste of coffee?” he asked with a sleepy smile as she scooted closer to him.

“Probably.”

“I’ll take my chances ..” 

His mouth met hers in a dance that spoke of lazy Sunday mornings.

“No chance you brought me coffee of my own, right?”

“Not a chance,” she said as she indicated his side of the bed.

Danny placed a hard kiss on her mouth and sat back against the headboard

“Coffee in bed, huh?” 

“And the papers, too. Imagine that ..”

He took a long draw from his mug and put it aside.

“Are you looking for a reward for all of this benevolence?”

“Always. But I first I have a question.”

“Shoot ..” he said as he ran lazy spirals up and down her arm.

“I was looking at the list. You know, for tonight?”

“Yeah?”

“You blacked something out, and I’d like to know what it is?”

“Why would you want to ruin a perfectly good moment?” Danny joked as he placed a kiss on her collar bone.

“Why would it ruin the moment? I’m just asking which memory it is.”

“One that is, perhaps, best left untouched.”

He was brushing his thumb across a nipple when he felt her body tense up.

“Okay, I guess we’re _not_ leaving it untouched,” he sighed before pulling himself back up against the headboard. “I do, however, need more coffee if we’re going down this path,” he added as he reached for his mug.

“We agreed that we’d use the list to work on any residual issues. There’s stuff on there that I’m not excited about but I know is important.”

“You’re right. I should have told you I wanted to remove that one from the list.”

“I guess I don’t understand why it needs to be removed at all. Especially when I still don’t know which memory this is.”

“You really wanna do this ..”

“I do.”

“The night the revised estimates for Kundu came in,” he said as he drained what was left of his coffee.

“I see.”

“Forget this one, CJ.”

“That was a bad day.”

“One of many.”

“You’re right, but I shouldn’t have done that to you.”

“Which part? The part where you reeled me in with all the talk or the - “

“I didn’t _reel you in_ ..”

“So all of that talk about the _might have beens_ and _conflict_ and _getting under your skin_ was your attempt to sneak in some truth before you put me in my place?”

She really didn’t have an answer for him, and she could tell he knew it.

“You know something really fascinating about that night? I remember the perfume, I remember you looked like Diane Keaton there in the shadows, but I don’t remember what you were wearing. It’s a complete blank, and I don’t think that’s ever happened before. So yeah,” he said as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, “I removed it from the list. Because you don’t have the answer to _my_ question. You don’t even know yourself whether you were being deliberately ambiguous or whether it was all part of your need to humiliate me.”

CJ struggled to figure out whether he was angry or just being forthright about the way he felt , but he settled that almost immediately.

“I’m not walking away," he said as he picked up his coffee mug. "I’m just going to get more coffee.”

“Okay.”

She was curled up in bed when he got back.

“Thought you might want some, too,” he said as he placed a fresh mug on her bedside table and got back into bed.

“Thank you.”

“ _Com’ere_ ,” he said as he pulled her into his arms. “I don’t think about it any more, CJ, and I didn’t want _you_ to think about it at all. That’s the reason I removed it from the list.”

“But I hurt you.” 

It was a statement rather than a question.

“Yes, but it’s water under the bridge and we should leave it that way.”

For a moment he wasn’t sure she was going to let it go, but then her shoulder sagged against his chest.

“Okay.”

“Okay. What’s the place on the water that has the tenderloin with miso _something or other_ that you like?”

“Miso _ponzu_?”

“Yeah.”

“ _Nobu_ in Malibu.”

“Want to go to lunch there? A drive and some fresh air will do us some good.”

“I’ll get dressed.”

“Me too. Wouldn’t want to scare the fish. Do I need to wear a jacket?” he called from his closet a few minutes later. “It’s been a while, I can’t remember.”

“Can’t hurt. Plus you clean up nice.”

“Okay. Do you think we need a reservation?”

“Maybe?” she called back from hers.

“I’ll call.”

“Hey Danny?” 

“Yeah?”

“Can you come help me with this?”

"Help you with what?"

He recognized the perfume as soon as he walked into her closet.

“Remember when you asked me exactly what I’d do to _have you_?” she asked as she ran her hands up the lapels of his jacket and into his hair.

He smiled and played along.

“Yeah?”

“I’d do _this_ ,” she said as her mouth met his.

“I should cancel that reservation, huh?” he asked when they came up for air.

“I’d say so."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are a few scenes between CJ and Danny that I am not a fan of. The copier room scene (Inauguration: Part One) is at the top of the list. 
> 
> I can appreciate that her head was not in a good place because there was so much going on. Truly. I can definitely appreciate that she needed to ‘faff’ him around on the Shareef piece because that is what her job required of her. But weaponizing his attraction to her feels below her dignity - and from a purely personal standpoint I really don’t like it when women do that. 
> 
> But that’s just me. 
> 
> I also debated making this a longer drawn out conversation, but decided against it - because I feel Danny possesses the emotional intelligence necessary to be forthright without making this acrimonious.


	10. Grey Silk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> “Say, what are you wearing tonight?”
> 
> “What am I wearing tonight?”
> 
> “Yeah."
> 
> “Your paper wants to know what I’m wearing?”
> 
> “Not my paper, that was just for me.”
> 
> “You wanna know what I’m wearing?”
> 
> “Yeah.”
> 
> “Well, I’m wearing an evening gown .. of grey silk."
> 
> "Good then, I’ll be looking forward to it.”
> 
> **Season 1, Episode 7 - The State Dinner ******
> 
> I needed to write some fluff ❤︎

_**CJ and Danny’s house** **in Los Angeles, California**_   
_**Evening of Wednesday, February 27th, 2008** _

“This one or this one?” CJ asked as she held two evening dresses aloft.

Danny looked up from his book, a little startled.

“What?”

“This one or this one?”

“Depends what you’re accessorizing with, I guess,” he said with a shrug.

“I thought I’d wear the silver necklace with the purple stones?”

Now she had his undivided attention.

"The one from the night Hurricane Sarah hit?”

“Yeah?”

“Why can’t you wear _that_ dress?”

“I don’t have that dress anymore.”

“ _Really?"_

He sounded so disappointed that she put the evening gowns aside and joined him on the bed.

“Abbey and I donated our dresses to a fundraiser for families of the sailors lost at sea that night.”

“A worthy cause.”

“It was.”

“I loved that dress,” he said nostalgically as he pulled her close.

“I loved that dress, too.”

He chuckled.

 _"What?_ "

“That was the night I knew I was in trouble.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I'd never seen so much of your skin before. It almost drove me to distraction.”

“To distraction how?”

“First of all, I was sure you weren’t wearing a bra.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I wanted to run my finger under those thin straps and ..”

He trailed off and looked at her.

“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“A little,” she said before she kissed him and got off the bed. 

“And now you’re going to walk away and leave me in a state of semi-arousal? Again? I don’t know why I stick around." 

CJ laughed and held up the dresses

“So .. which one of these two?”

“ _What’s this for again?_ ”

“Reception at the South African Consulate on Sunday night.”

“Whichever one shows less skin,” he said as he went back to his book. “And maybe wear a different necklace? That one turns me on. It wouldn’t reflect well on the Foundation if I walked around sporting wood all night.”

CJ’s shoulders shook.

“Yeah, yeah. Make fun of a man when he’s down.”

"Don't you mean _up_?"

"Whatever .."

CJ laughed and laughed until her bladder threatened to give way.

“Oh God, I need the bathroom .."

“It's really classy when you do this, CJ,” he called after her. “ _Really classy_.”

She was still being beset by the occasional giggle when she made a call a short while later.

“And?” the voice at the other end said.

“Hook, line, and sinker.”

“So you want me to pick up the dress from the dry cleaners tomorrow and ..”

“Keep it at your place?”

“Okay.”

“I’ll take it when I come over on Sunday. Can I still come over and do the cooking there?”

“You’re sure you don’t want me to order -“

“ _Why does everyone think I can’t cook_?”

“Your propensity for ordering salad for eight years?” Carol said sweetly.

“First of all, I consumed copious amounts of Chinese food. And secondly, I can cook.”

“I thought Danny did most of the cooking.”

“He does, but that doesn’t mean I can’t cook. I cook very well, actually.”

“I will .. take your word for it. Have you got a plan to keep Danny in the dark?”

“I’ve asked his agent to keep him occupied from 4pm onwards.”

“Sounds like you have it all figured out.”

“I do. Valentine’s Day got lost in the shuffle between the emergency board meeting on the fourteenth and then me being in Nairobi right afterwards.”

“I can’t believe we’re having a conversation about missing Valentine’s Day,” Carol said with a laugh.

“You know what? Me neither. Hang on .. _yes, Danny_?”

“Barbara’s on the phone. She wants to know if we can meet on Sunday afternoon. What time’s the thing?”

“Car service is picking us up at seven. What time does she want to meet?

“Four?”

“Should be plenty of time.”

“So I can say yes then ..”

“Sure.”

* * *

_**Evening of Sunday, March 2nd** _   
_**6.50pm** _

“I’m back,” Danny called as he dashed through the front door and practically ran up the stairs. “ _Sorry I’m late!_ ”

He paused slightly on the bottom step, trying to pinpoint what felt different, but CJ’s voice spurred him back into action.

“I laid out your black suit for you,” she called from somewhere deep in the house. “Wear my favourite cologne!”

“The Burberry?”

“Yes.”

“Okaaay.”

It wasn’t until he was coming back down the stairs that it occurred to him what was different.

He could smell food, and his stomach rumbled in response.

“CJ?” he called as he wandered around looking for her.

“Out here.”

His mouth ran dry as he stepped outside.

Not only was she sheathed in grey silk, the deck looked magical.

“What happened to the thing?” he asked when he had recovered his wits.

“ _This_ is the thing,” she said with an incandescent smile.

“So the whole story about the dress ..” he said as he ran a finger reverently over one of her shoulders.

“Half of that was true. Abbey _did_ donate her dress to a fundraiser. They could have cared less about the Press Secretary’s.”

“Lucky for me,” he said as he dropped a kiss to the same shoulder.

“ _That’s_ going to have to wait till _after_ dinner,” she said as she took his hand and led him to table.

“You cooked, too, didn’t you?”

“There should be no doubt in your mind that I’m capable of being a domestic goddess as well as a wanton one.”

Danny laughed as he took his seat.

“As long as I can have you for dessert ..”

“I’m sure that can be arranged."

“And there was no doubt in my mind, by the way.”

"Good."

CJ smiled, and Danny reached for her hand.

“You look even more beautiful now than you did that night, you know,” he said as he placed her palm against his mouth and kissed it.

“Flattery will get you everywhere.”

“I've tested that theory before,” he said mischievously.

“ _Danny_ ..” she said as he put her hand down and picked up his fork.

“Yeah?”

“I’d like to go on the record here.”

“About what?” he asked, his voice full of amusement.

“That was also the night I knew _I_ was in trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Burberry Touch, for those of you in need of details.


	11. Agita

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to organize my stories into some kind of _part of a series / standalone_ order, and it occurred to me that this really belongs in here. I have reworked it a little, but it will be familiar to those who have read it before.

_**CJ and Danny’s Kitchen** _  
_**Sunday, March 16th, 2008 @ 5pm** _

It had been somewhat of a crazy weekend.

She’d worked all of Saturday and most of Sunday in preparation for an upcoming trip to Nairobi, and was looking forward to an evening at home.

CJ pulled the list from the fridge and wondered - as she always did when it was Danny’s turn - what he’d pick. She walked around the kitchen, putting things away. Amusing herself with the thought that in two weeks, if he didn’t pick that _today_ , she’d bring up the time in the press room when they’d stared blatantly at each other’s mouths while conversing. Until he’d reminded her that _she_ was the one who needed to leave.

It wasn’t something they’d outgrown. Sometimes, when she knew he wanted her, she stood just out of arm's length and engaged him in abstract conversation; watching him tune out their surroundings as she reeled him in inch by inch.

She was almost done emptying the dishwasher when she heard the key in the front door, and glanced at the clock.

_Had his appointment with Barbara had been cancelled?_

The moment he stepped into the kitchen she realized that not only was he back way too early, he was also upset. And even though she was secure in the knowledge that she couldn’t possibly be responsible for whatever ailed him, she navigated the tension carefully.

“Hi,” she said as she tried to figure out whether this was a beer or hard liquor situation.

“Hi.”

His eyes weren’t warm as he looked at her, and suddenly she was no longer so sure she wasn’t responsible for whatever this was.

“How'd it go with Barbara?”

“It didn’t. I took a drive up the coast.”

His voice was completely flat, and her suspicion started to feel more like unease.

She cast her mind back over the past two days and came up blank. It couldn’t be anything she'd done because she hadn't seen or spoken to him properly since getting ready for work on Friday mor-

And then it hit her.

 _She'd kissed him while getting dressed_.

That, in itself, was not unusual – and there would have been no adverse reaction had it been an _en passant_ kiss. It happened often enough. A quick peck on the mouth before they went about their day. Sometimes _during_ the day, if he was in the vicinity of her office. Eyes open, knowing smiles; just enough to convey affection without creating physical tension.

But she’d had a lot on her mind that morning. Her parted lips had been an invitation his body wasn't used to turning down – and his reaction had been visceral. She should have known to stop there, but she hadn’t. Instead she'd run a finger under his collar, stood too close to him, and lowered her voice to alto pitch.

With hindsight, she’d done it to throw him a bone because she’d needed to get out the door. And then she’d kissed him again absently before sweeping out of the bedroom.

“I’m sorry ..” she said quietly.

When he didn’t ask her _why_ she was sorry, she realized that he’d been stuck in the steel trap of that 6.45am memory all weekend.

“Okay.”

But she knew it wasn’t, because he stopped making eye contact with her the moment he said it.

And that was more her style than his.

He ran a hand through his hair and stepped towards the fridge.

“Want me to make dinner?” he asked as he peered inside.

“Can we make it together?”

“Sure.”

He didn’t give her the silent treatment, but the conversation was desultory at best. And when it trailed off, neither one of them made the effort to pick it up again. She because she didn’t know how to make it right without an argument, and he because he was nursing hurt. 

Late afternoon slipped into evening, and then into night, without mention of the list.

Somewhere in the early hours of the morning she became aware that he was sitting up in bed; knees pulled in, elbows resting on them, fingers steepled.

She ran a hand across his back, resting her chin on his shoulder, and he shifted his head to look at her as breath tickled his ear.

“Feeling a little frisky there, Ms. Cregg?”

The words weren’t said unkindly, but there was an element of disbelief in his voice that made them feel very much like a rebuke. He deliberated for a moment, and then pushed her gently back on the bed. But he didn’t kiss her. Didn’t give her any part of himself. Just slipped a hand between her thighs and started to take care of her.

"Not like this,” she said as she placed a hand over his and stalled him.

They both stared up at the ceiling, engulfed by silence.

“ _I’m trying_ ..” she said after a while.

“I know.”

She wished he’d crack a joke about not being done training her yet, but he didn’t.

He did take her hand, though.

“Things haven’t fallen apart, CJ,” he said as he pressed a kiss to it. “We’ve just hit a speed bump. It was bound to happen some time. It’ll pass.”

“Guess we can strike _that_ memory off the list,” she said sadly.

“Yeah.”

“Danny ..”

“I just need a bit of time to get over myself, CJ,” he said quietly as he linked his fingers with hers. "It's not the way I thought we'd address this one."

“Okay.”

Sleep was a long time coming but, as daylight filtered in, CJ opened her eyes to find him tucking her half of the duvet around her.

“Morning ..” she said with a smile.

Stroking her thumb up and down his arm to gauge where things stood.

"Morning .."

She noted that there was light in his eyes again as he propped himself up on an elbow.

His eyebrows arched as her lips parted with the faintest of _pops_ , and the soundless gibberish brought his eyes firmly to her mouth. He moved closer and, as she watched him watch her, she could tell she was effecting a rise in systolic pressure.

When he touched her, she entangled her legs with his.

Because while he might be mesmerized by her mouth, she knew that his true pleasure lay in hearing his name fall raggedly off her lips as they brushed his earlobe.


	12. Follow Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little bit of established relationship fluff.

_**Sunday, March 23rd, 2008 @ 7pm** _

“Where’s the list? Is it my turn to pick?”

“Nope, it’s mine,” Danny shook the piece of paper in the air without looking up from his laptop.

“What are you reading?” she asked as she threw herself down on the bed.

“An article by a professor at Harvard.”

“Why?”

“I’m doing some research.”

“What for?”

“Tonight.”

“Which memory are we revisiting?” she asked as took the list from him and looked it up and down.

“ _This one_.” Danny took the list back from her, pulled a pen from behind his ear, and circled his choice. "Listen to this .. our brains pay ten times more attention to the sense of touch for hands than they do for arms or legs.”

“That’s .. fascinating, but doesn’t explain to me how we’re going to recreate this particular memory. Do you really want to give yo -“

“I was thinking that we could _reminisce_ about this one and then maybe test the good doc’s theory?”

“Okay, but I think I’m losing brain cells. Was that number three or number four?”

“Three.”

He closed his laptop and put it under the bed.

“I thought number three was in the supply closet.”

“Number three was right after the briefing.”

“You’re sure ..”

“Yup ..”

_She was becoming reckless as she briefed the press. Someone was going to cop on, if they hadn’t already, that she was smiling fondly at Danny every time he asked a question. Or looking in his direction hoping that he would ask one._

“I was _not_ .. reckless.”

“Bet you think you weren’t smiling fondly at me, either. And several people _had_ copped on, by the way.”

“The two bloodhounds?”

“Chris and Katie?”

“Yes.”

“Actually, Chris, Katie _and_ Mark O’Donnell.”

“Hey, Carol told me that Katie and Mark are an item. Is it true?”

“Yes.”

“Huh.”

“Can I continue now?”

“Sure.”

_As she turned to leave the podium, she noticed Danny wince. A few moments later he found himself staring up into the concerned eyes of Carol Fitzpatrick._

_“Danny, CJ’s inviting you back to follow up on a couple of things.”_

“You followed me back to my office!”

“No way. I was in pain and just wanted to go home.”

“Okay, maybe you’re right. Keep going ..”

_“You wanted to see me?” Danny asked as he walked into her office._

_“What’s going on?” CJ asked as she closed the door firmly behind him._

_“What do you mean?”_

_“I know a wince when I see one. Are you in pain?”_

_“Paper cut.”_

_Danny looked at his finger and then up at her._

_“Is that why you asked me back here?”_

_“Maybe.”_

“Oh God, did I really say that?”

"Are you gonna keep interrupting?"

_"I wanted to be sure you were okay."  
_

_“At least it isn’t my tongue. Those cuts really hurt. And they get in the way of, you know, other stuff.”_

_“Let me see it,” she said as she took his hand into hers._

_“Oww …” he yelped._

_“Don’t be such a baby.”_

_“Did you just say don’t be such a baby?”_

_“Yes, now hold still ..”_

_“Why?”_

_“When did this happen?”_

_“Right as the briefing was about to start.”_

_“Did you put anything on it?”_

_“No ..”_

_“Did you wash your hands?” she asked as she opened the top drawer in her desk and pulled out a white tube._

_“There wasn’t time. What are you doing?”_

_“Checking to see if this a wax-based lip balm. It isn’t. “ She tossed it back into the drawer. “Carol!”_

_She dropped his hand just as her assistant walked through the door._

_“Yes?”_

_“Do you have any nail polish?”_

_“Clear or coloured?”_

_“Clear.”_

_“Yes.”_

_Carol eyed them both for a moment and then left the room. Only to return a moment later with the requested item._

_“Need anything else?”_

_“No. Thank you.” She waited until the door had closed before holding out her palm.  
_

_“You’re not really going to put that on my finger, are you?”_

_“It’s like super glue, Danny. It will hold your skin together and seal it. Germs won’t get in and it won’t get infected.”_

_“You’re serious ..”_

_“Yes, now can I have your hand, please?”_

_“‘kay.”_

_She ran the brush once over his finger._

_“Did that hurt?”_

_“No ..”_

_“Just waiting for it to dry so that I can put another layer on,” she said before she blew gently on his finger._

_“CJ ..”_

_“What?”_

_“Don’t do that ..”_

_“Do what?” she asked innocently as she added another coat and blew on his finger again._

“God, I really _was_ becoming reckless, wasn’t I?”

“Well, the next day you pulled me into a supply closet. The day after that you yanked me by the tie, so yeah .. I think you _were_.”

“Was that _really_ a turn on?” she asked as she layered a leg over his. “When I blew on your finger?”

“You were such a tease, you know that?”

“You brought out the kitten in me.”

“The _kitten_?!?”

“Okay, maybe the panther.”

“How about an ocelot?”

“Hey!”

“They’re opportunistic carnivores. Owww! It’s true. You took advantage of me all week.”

“I didn’t hear you complaining.”

Danny smiled and placed his hand on her hip.

“Do you remember how it felt just before you grabbed me?”

CJ closed her eyes.

“I remember you putting your hand on my wrist, I remember you standing really close. It was like the moment right before a thunderstorm when there’s all of that electricity in the air.”

“And then you pounced.”

“I didn’t _pounce_.”

“You grabbed me. Same difference.”

“What I _really_ wanted was to kiss you finger better, but that would have been suggestive.”

“ _And blowing on my finger wasn’t?_ I walked around all week in a state of semi-arousal. By the end of the week I couldn’t even look at you with getting hard. I couldn’t even hear your _voice_.”

“Briefings must have been uncomfortable, huh?”

“You know what, forget ocelot. The word I was looking for is _vixen_.”

“Isn’t that a woman who doesn’t hesitate to take charge?”

“Let me just remind you that _I_ kissed _you_ the first time because you propositioned me and then lost your nerve. And that the rest was all _you_. I am sure there were rules against taking advantage of poor defenceless males in the workplace.”

“There are no rules _now_ and, anyway, wasn’t there a theory you wanted to test?”

“Our brains pay ten times more attention to the sense of touch for hands than they do for arms or legs?”

“Yes.”

“Sadly that’s relative to injuries ..”he said as he pulled off his sweater.

“That’s a shame ..” CJ said as she pulled off her own.

“It is, isn’t it?” He ran his fingers up her bare arm, over her shoulder, and down over a nipple which puckered immediately. “ _Here’s_ something very sensitive to touch, though. Mind if I blow on _this_?”

“I’d much rather you kissed it.”

“How about a triage? Lick, blow, kiss?”

He didn’t wait for a response, and smiled against her skin when she sought more contact with other parts of his body.”

“You know what I’m thinking ..” she murmured.

“I’ll try and pretend you didn’t just _insult_ me there, CJ.”

“I led that day, maybe I should lead again tonight."

“What d'you have in mind?”

“Well .. when I got home from my trip the other day I was too tired to be anything but a willing recipient. I’m not tired now and I’d .. like to return the favour.”

She ran a hand up the front of his sweatpants as she whispered her game plan into his ear.

Danny shuddered beneath her fingertips.

“Far be it from me to get between you and your urges,” he said as he locked his fingers behind his head.

“Wipe that smirk off your face,” she said as she pulled his bottoms off him.

“ _Make me_ ..”

“Oh you’re going to be sorry you said that!”


	13. Once Upon A Time In The Dark

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.k.a. missing kiss #4

_**CJ and Danny’s House** _   
_**Sunday, March 30th, 2008 @ 7pm** _

“ CJ? ” Danny called as he wandered around the house looking for her. “ _Claudia Jean_? ”

He popped his head into the garage. Both cars were there. He looked on the deck, took a wander around the pool area, and looked inside the cabana. Not there either. He looked in the bedroom, wondering whether she’d taken a nap and overslept. The bed was empty, and she definitely wasn’t in the shower. Bemused, he stopped by the kitchen and figured he’d get a start on dinner. 

About five minutes in, the light in the pantry flicking on and off caught his attention.

“ CJ? ”

“ It took you long enough to figure it out, ” she said as she pulled him inside and plunged the small space into almost complete darkness.

“ I was about to ask which one we were doing tonight, but now I know. ”

“ I’ve been thinking about what you said .. about me becoming _reckless?_ ”

“ Yeah? ”

“I think I have to agree with you.”

“ If it’s any consolation, it was the best kiss in the dark I’ve ever had, ” he said as he patted her down.

“ How many kisses in the dark have you ha- _what are you doing?_ ”

“ Checking whether you’re wearing a pantsuit. I am satisfied that you are. ”

“ Tell me what you remember. ”

_He isn’t sure why he’s in a dark supply closet in the middle of the afternoon. But before he can think to ask, her hands are on him and the sensation of her lips on his is warm and sensual to the point where his judgement starts to cloud. And pretty soon he’s having a hard time remembering exactly why he cares about the reason he’s here._

“ What made it the best kiss in the dark? ”

“ You did. You put one hand on me _like this_ , ” he said as he placed her left hand on his shoulder. “ Then you got _so close_ I could feel your breath on my face. ” He pulled her head into the apposite position. “ Then you put your _other_ hand against my face and you .. ”

“ Did this .. ” she said as she closed the gap and kissed him.

_Danny froze in place for a moment and then pulled back._

_“ You’re driving me crazy, CJ .. ”_

_The loss of contact, as she felt the warmth and the heat of his mouth slide away from her, made her impetuous._

_“ Feel free to ask me to dinner sometime .. ” she murmured before she kissed him again._

“ You know, it’s just as well you were wearing a pantsuit that day. ”

“ Why’s that? ” she asked as she deepened the kiss in a way she hadn’t several years prior.

“ I wanted you so badly that I think I would have embarrassed us both had you been wearing something that just passed your knees. ”

“ Do you want me _now_? ” she murmured.

He hooked an elbow under her knee and raised it up.

“ _You_ tell _me_ .. ”

CJ smiled against his skin as she peppered his jawline with kisses.

“ Want to know why I was wearing a pantsuit that day and the day after that? ”

“ Sure .. ” 

His hands ran all over her, and she gasped a little when his lips landed on places she wasn’t expecting, and the friction of a gentle rub started to play havoc with her self control.

“ CJ? ”

“ Mmm? ”

“ What were you going to tell me? ”

“ I can’t remember .. ”

“ The reason you were wearing a pantsuit? ” he prompted as he nipped at an earlobe.

“ Oh, I hadn’t shaved my legs. ”

“ Funny you should mention that .. ”

“ Why? ” She laved the side of his neck and bit into it ever so gently.

“ I had a dream once that I was watching you shave your legs. Might have been that week, might have been a daydream. I can’t remember. I’m sure I’ve told you that I was walking around in a daze that week. ”

“ Danny? ” It was her turn to nip at a earlobe.

“ Mmmm? ”

“ Want to watch me shave my legs? ” she whispered into his ear.

“ Now? ”

“ Yeah .. ”

“ God, _yes_. ”

A few minutes later he was standing in the doorway of the master bathroom, watching her root around in a cabinet.

“ First I’ll do my legs and then I’ll do _you._ How's that? ”

The sound of her voice coming from the back of her throat made him twitch and ache at the same time and, judging by the look on her face she knew it, too.

CJ slipped out of her pants, and positioned her foot on the edge of the bath tub before looking right at him.

“ Unless _you_ want to shave my legs, ” she added as she stroked the length of her extended leg from the ankle to the middle of her outer thigh in a way that made him tighten quite visibly.

Danny let this eyes run over her. The toned calves, the smooth thighs, the way her legs went on forever. It was only the sound of her clearing her throat that brought an end to the adulation.

He stepped up behind her; pressing his mouth to the back of her head as he placed his right hand on her thigh. Slowly following a downward path as he pulled her back into him with his other hand. Her head dropped back onto his shoulder as the same hand snaked under her blouse and cupped a breast. He smiled as his right hand travelled up back up her leg and crossed over onto her inner thigh, because the change in her was almost immediate. A nipple rose to meet his fingers and her breathing gave away her arousal; matching his and then magnifying it.

“ I don’t think I can let you anywhere near me with this razor blade, ” she said as she let it drop into the bath.

It took him a moment to realize that his right hand was trembling.

“ Danny? ”

“ Mmm? ”

She turned in his arms.

“ Okay, now you're driving _me_ crazy. Take me to bed. ”


	14. The Federal Suite

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Those of you who have read _Return to Africa_ will recognize certain characters mentioned in here.
> 
> The _Off The Record_ bar inside the Hay-Adams hotel has lots of really fun caricatures. It felt like a great place to start this off. If you follow the link below you'll find photos of the _Federal Suite_ , which is where the rest of this chapter takes place.
> 
> https://www.oyster.com/washington-dc/hotels/the-hay-adams/photos/balcony-federal-suite-hay-adams-hotel-v638581/

_**Off The Record @ The Hay-Adams Hotel** _   
_**Washington, DC** _   
_**Sunday, April 6th, 2008** _

  
“Told you they’d have your caricature on the wall the next time we visited,” Danny said as he dropped a kiss to the top of her head and sat at the round table. “Has anyone asked for your autograph?”

“Happily nobody has recognized me,” CJ said with a laugh.

“Yet.”

“How’d it go?”

“You no longer have clearance for this kind of national security stuff.”

“Oh God .. do I even _want_ to know?”

He leaned forward and whispered, “Let’s just say that things went off the rails for the half hour that Matt Santos was on the bus.”

“Bet the Secret Service were delighted.”

“The President sure knows how to party, I’ll tell you that. I thought Josh was going to have an aneurysm when he saw him.”

Danny laughed so hard he started to cough.

“Please tell me someone was running the country for that half hour?”

“I learned the hard way not to ask questions like that. But now you know why Josh almost had an aneurysm.”

“I’m still trying to picture all of you on a party bus.”

“It was the only way to ensure total privacy. Blackout windows, the works.”

“One of your better ideas. You’re really not going to tell me?”

“It was _somethin’_ .. especially when Charlie thought he’d give a demonstration on the pole.”

“The bus had a pole?”

“Yup.”

“Was Josh _sober_ by the end?”

“Nope.” He held out his hand and checked for a tremor. “Not completely sure _I’m_ sober either. How was yours? Are _you_ sober?”

Now it was CJ’s turn to laugh.

“Barely.”

“Was Margaret still annoyed that her hookah bar idea got nixed?”

“Not really. It was a great idea to let her do all the planning. She really went to town ..”

“I can only imagine. Bet _you_ were the girl of the hour, though, securing the Hollis superyacht for the bachelorette,” Danny said as he turned a coaster over in his hand.

“I was certainly popular with the First Lady’s _detail_. The helicopter landed right on the front. You should see the inside of the yacht, Danny. The pictures don’t do it justice. Frank said we can have it when we ..”

“Mmmm?” Danny looked up as she trailed off.

“Frank said we can use it whenever we like.”

“That’s nice of him.” He was almost sure that wasn’t what she’d been about to say, but didn’t press. “Did Donna have a good time?”

“She’s glowing. So excited about the wedding. Bringing in massage therapists was a stroke of genius. I don’t think she realized how much she needed it. Margaret even gave you credit!"

"Imagine that .."

"Thank you for thinking about it.”

Danny reached across the table and took her hand.

“Thank you for taking Erin and my mom with you.”

“Of course. I’m enjoying getting to know them better. Your mother is hysterical. Everybody loved her. Especially Debbie.”

“Were either of _them_ sober?”

“Not really, no. Erin went off somewhere with Margaret, Carol, and Ginger.”

“And my mom?”

“Was singing rather loudly outside her hotel with Debbie when I dropped them off.”

Danny grinned as he stood.

“You about ready to go up? We still have an hour of Sunday night. Although I guess we could pretend that we’re still on California time ..”

“ _What are you doing?_ ”

“The coasters have both _your_ caricature and _President Bartlet’s_ on 'em,” he replied as he placed a few in the inside pocket of his jacket. “I want to gift him a couple at the wedding. He’ll get a kick out of it.”

She shook her head in mortification.

"You should sign a couple of them and leave them lying about."

“Okay, let’s go.”

As soon as the elevator doors closed shut she pulled him towards her and kissed him.

“Just as well nobody round here recognizes me anymore,” she said with a laugh as they stumbled into their suite a few minutes later, still mostly liplocked.

“I need to get out of these clothes. They smell of alcohol and stripper perfume.”

“You had a _stripper_?”

“You _didn’t_?”

“Are you serious?”

“No. Actually I just want to call and check on Josh.”

“How much did he drink?”

“When you work eighteen hour days and don’t really take time to unwind, alcohol goes to your head real fast.”

“Okay.” She let go of him reluctantly. “Maybe call your mother, too? Just to cover all bases?”

“I’m not sure I _want_ to know what my mother and Debbie are potentially up to ..”

“Just Josh then. I’ll go slip into something a little more comfortable,” she called after him.

Danny stopped and turned around.

“Yes,” she said in response to the question his eyes posed.

“God, I don’t think I’ve seen you in it since that night.”

“I’ve been holding it in reserve - on the offchance that we’d come back here.”

“Now I’m definitely _not_ calling my mother. I'll make it quick.” 

He found her leaning over the railing in the alcoved balcony off the bedroom; her gaze directed at the White House.

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

“I’m trying to put myself in the mindset of that night.”

“You were so wired and exhausted, I’m surprised you remember anything at all about that night,” Danny said as he wrapped his left arm around her waist and placed the elbow of his other arm on the railing.

“I remember putting _this_ on and waiting for you to come back from the press corps shindig downstairs.”

_Danny slipped into the Federal Suite._

_“CJ?”_

_“Hey ..”_

_She was seated at the conference room-style table with her back to him._

_“I thought we agreed you were going to take it easy while I was down there,” he said as he pulled off his overcoat and tossed it over one of the chairs. He rubbed her tense shoulders as he glanced over the papers. “Whatcha doin’?”_

_“Worrying about what will happen if one of the three hundred and eighty-nine horses in the inauguration parade should keel over.”_

_“I thought they had contingencies for that kind of thing.”_

_“A team of veterinarians and a forklift!”_

_“So why are you worrying?"  
_

_“Force of habit, I guess. How did your farewell party go?”_

_“Lots of ribbing, as expected. Katie and Chris made out like bandits in the pools - holy crap!” he added as she stood to face him. “I thought you were wearing a coat dress.”_

_“I guess it is .. kinda.”_

_Danny’s eyes took in the floor length longsleeved Persian blue creation with a plunging v-shaped lace front which showcased her breasts and was held together by just a few buttons above her waist._

_“Do you like it?”_

_“Do I like it?” he asked as he ran the back of his fingers under the lace and grazed a breast._

_He knew the moment she moved he’d have the answer to his second question, but he had to ask._

_“Are you wearing anything at all under there?”_

_“It came with matching panties.”_

_“That doesn’t answer my question.”_

_The material slipped away from her leg as she curved her foot around his ankle - and she moaned as Danny’s hand ran up and around her thigh and encountered a bare buttock._

_“Jesus Christ, CJ,” he added as she dropped her head to his shoulder. “You’ve gotta give a man some warning.”_

_He was surprised when she wound her arms around his neck._

_“What’s going on?” he asked carefully as he felt a deep breath reverberate against his frame._

_“I can’t see you off at the airport tomorrow.”_

_“I know that, it’s okay.”_

“I hated that I couldn’t. After that night at your apartment, things shifted so radically. Everything fell into place. We became a team in ways we hadn’t been before, and it felt .. it felt weird thinking of you not being here for my last three days in office. I just didn’t know how to express it at the time.”

“I seem to recall you expressed it just fine. With a whole lot of tenderness, a few tears, and the confession that you picked this suite with its view of the White House to continue building perspective on why you were putting yourself front and centre and distancing yourself from all of this.”

“Josh was still trying to get me to stay on one hour before the inauguration.”

“I know ..”

“I never told you that.”

“You didn’t, he did.

“Okay.”

It was a quiet whisper, full of emotion, and he didn’t have to look at her to know that her eyes were filled with tears. Nor did he have to ask, really, what she was feeling or what she was thinking. He’d been expecting all of it, and was expecting still more by the time Donna and Josh tied the knot on Tuesday evening.

He rubbed her back gently until he felt her settle.

“Can you imagine what a circus security is going to be on Tuesday?”

CJ shuddered.

“Yes, I can. And I’m so grateful that we won’t need any of that whe-“

“When we what?”

“Nothing ..”

“That’s twice tonight you’ve not finished a sentence. Is there something else you want to talk about?”

CJ hesitated for a moment and then shook her head.

“It’s getting cold out here ..” she said with a little shiver.

“Yeah,” Danny said as he followed her inside.

She seemed a little less vulnerable as she turned to face him in the bedroom and, much as it had that night just under fifteen months ago, the sight of her in Persian blue satin drove everything from his brain.

“Do you still like it?” she asked as she watched him.

“Do I still like it .. “ Danny enunciated very slowly as he stepped up to her. “Yes.”

“Close your eyes.”

At this juncture in their narrative she knew his body as well as he knew hers, so being divested of his clothing this way was something of a novelty which he fell headlong into without question; content to comply with her instructions.

“The playing field is almost level. You can open them now.”

She was still clad in satin, but he could read the invitation in her eyes.

“Are you going to make me beg?” 

“Not tonight,” he said as he placed both hands over the lace at her chest.

He pulled back for a moment - turning positively smug at the sight of her nipples rising in anticipation when he’d barely touched them. But his gaze turned feral and hungry as he looked up at her, and her response was instinctive and immediate as she pushed one of her legs out of the satin encasement and pulled his hand onto it.

“ _What did we say about giving a man a bit of warning?_ ” he growled against her ear as he made contact with bare skin.

His fingers made quick work of opening the buttons at her waist, and as he looked at her with lust that he didn’t need to disguise, the garment pooled at her ankles and he shifted them both in the direction of the bed. Moments later he was pressing open mouthed kisses all the way from her jawline to her earlobe with soft heated breath which made her push her body up against him, grip his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise, and part her legs to make it very clear what she wanted.

Danny shrugged her off gently, and lay on his side. Pushing her thighs further apart, he inserted a salivated digit into her and flashed her a smile when she strained against it. She rocked against his palm when he brought it up against her body; vocalizing her need for more in tiny exasperated whimpers. But he was in no mood to give her quarter. Choosing instead to add one more digit and keep her on edge until she fell apart in a series of fluttering, drizzly contractions.

“Danny ..”

“Patience ..”

Her eyes widened as he licked his fingers off and then traced her lips with them. Replacing them with his mouth seconds later, and feeling himself tighten just a little more as the residual taste and smell of her assaulted his senses.

Hers, too, if the look on her face was anything to go by.

They fell easily into rhythm as they took possession of one another; each pelvic grind obliterating the one before it. He reached for her wrists - interlocking them in one of his hands above her head. Holding her eyes as he plunged repeatedly into her, and releasing her only when slick skin made them slip and slide against one other.

“ _With me_ ..” he whispered hoarsely as he felt her ankles lock around the small of his back. Knowing that the change in angle was going to be his undoing.

Blood roared through her ears as they crested, and she reached for his hand when post-coital silence engulfed them. They lay together for a while, limbs limp and tangled, and Danny found his mind returning to her truncated sentences as they enjoyed the familiar comfort of the other’s uneven breathing.

“CJ?”

“Mmm?”

"There's something I need to ask you."

"Ask me .."

“With hindsight, if given the choice, would you make the same decision?”

Her hand rose to his face as she leaned in to kiss him.

“Yes.” 


	15. Leap Of Faith

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had no intention of introducing plot into this series, but it's evolved into the kind of scenario where these final chapters are slotting nicely inbetween the other stories in my CJ|D universe. I resisted the impulse for a while, but it's working out just fine (at least to my mind), so I shall indulge my muse (such as she is).

_**United Airlines Flight from Dulles to LAX** _  
_**Sunday, April 13th, 2008 @ 1145** _

CJ leafed through the documents on her lap and felt rather gratified that they’d opted to fly commercial on this trip. The Hollis jet was a luxury and undoubtedly useful - especially for international trips, where itineraries often shifted on a dime, and national meetings that cropped up unexpectedly - but she couldn’t ignore that fact that flying by private jet was more than eight times less efficient if calculated per passenger. The private aviation industry was booming, and had some of the best tax breaks going, but she could leave the jetsetting to Franklin and his family. 

It was also a way to keep her private and professional life from mingling more than strictly necessary.

She pushed back into her seat and second guessed her decision not to wash an Ambien down with a glass of merlot. She’d popped one the last time she took this flight, but she’d taken it in the lounge well before takeoff. It was too late now anyway, she told herself.

That flight seemed like a lifetime ago, upon reflection.

_It was a strange feeling powering her phone down completely, and somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered whether she would ever acclimate completely to it. She could feel the tug of the Ambien on her system, but it wasn’t enough yet to quieten her mind - which toggled back and forth between last night’s conversation with Toby and thoughts about her future with Danny at lightning speed._

_The sense of relief that she’d felt holding Toby’s pardon in her hands was intensified tenfold by the look on his face when he’d opened his apartment door to her at 6pm. Her hand had moved instinctively to her heart as they looked at each other over the threshold, and the hug they’d fallen into had been warm and reassuring for both of them. Somewhere in the past two weeks she’d owned the fact that the way she’d presented the last time they’d seen one another had, at least partially, triggered his veiled declaration of feelings for her. She was determined not to put either one of them through that again, so this time there had been no hesitation in her voice when she’d shared her final plans with him. Andy had arrived with Huck and Molly shortly afterwards, and she’d stayed just long enough to see the look in his eyes as his children wrapped themselves around him. He’d flashed her one last smile as she’d been heading out the door; a tacit blessing that she hadn’t necessarily been looking for but was infinitely grateful to receive._

A stewardess broke into her reverie, with the offer of a beverage.

“I’ll have some water please,” she said as she let her mind drift to her arrival at LAX thirteen months earlier.

 _She'd pulled herself together just as the plane was landing and, as she stood at the baggage carousel, the anxiety in her belly amplified into something a little more substantial. She closed her eyes for a moment and waited for the feeling that she was making a huge mistake to hit her. It didn’t come, and suddenly she realized that she’d mischaracterized what she was feeling. It wasn’t anxiety, it was impatience. Most people underestimated the difficulties involved in entering a new phase of life; perhaps because they weren't cognizant of the extent and magnitude of the changes involved. Not her. The vestiges of her old life had remained on the plane which had brought her to California, she told herself. But she was well aware that from hereon out she’d be out of her comfort zone as she tackled personal things she was poorly prepared for. It was time to embrace the growing pains; to figure out ways to create balance and find ways of being true to herself and the relationship she had committed to._ _The impatience was suddenly underscored by a flutter of excitement at the prospect of seeing Danny, and before she knew it there he was. Smelling of her favourite cologne, and cracking a joke to keep the moment just non-emotional enough so they could get out of the airport and she could kiss him the way she wanted to._

* * *

_**Parking Lot at LAX @ 1230pm local time** _

Danny leaned back against the passenger door of his car; enjoying the California sunshine and thinking about the last time he’d picked CJ up after a flight from DC.

_He tapped his foot impatiently on the ground, feeling somewhat antsy. She’d called from her seat on the plane before take off, she’d texted when her plane landed, and then again to tell him that there was a slight delay with the baggage offload. There was no reason to believe she wouldn’t be walking through the double doors in the next twenty minutes or so._

_He was expecting her to be so tired that she wouldn’t care about much in the beginning. She’d left all of the logistical arrangements to him because she simply hadn’t had time to do much, but there were all kinds of niggling doubts in his mind._ _For all the talking they’d done, they’d really only scratched the surface. Their final evenings together in DC had had a dreamy romantic quality - reminiscent of November 2006 - to them._ _Sh_ _e’d speculated about the nature of their future arguments, but it was unlikely to actually be bills or laundry._

_The arguments would come, no doubt about it, because cohabitation put a lot of things into new perspective, and the proof of whether they were actually compatible would be in the pudding. Soon they’d be exposed to each other’s less attractive qualities on a daily basis, and he had to admit to himself that he had no idea whether a clean kitchen was going to be more important than stray articles of clothing on the bedroom floor, how loud she liked her music, how hard it would be to establish a routine which worked for both of them, or how much physical and emotional space they would need. Things would either fall into place or it would be a rude awakening, he supposed. He was suddenly very glad that they’d agreed to rent a place as opposed to asking the tenants in her LA property to break their lease._

_He had just concluded that he needed to trust in the leap of faith that they’d taken, when he caught sight of her, found himself assessing her level of exhaustion and, shortly thereafter, making a joke to offset the level of emotion that had been building up inside of him all morning.  
_

His phone dinged with an incoming text and he smiled when he saw that there was, yet again, a delay with the baggage offload. 

This time there was no need to crack a joke or do anything other than be the willing recipient of the kiss she brushed against his mouth in the middle of the arrivals terminal.

“Good flight?” he asked as he relieved her of her suitcase.

“Very,” she replied as she linked an arm with his.

“Lunch at Nobu? I’ve been dreaming about their Dover sole ever since I got back.”

She gave him a bright smile, which got brighter as they stepped outside.

“Want to drop by the house and change first?” 

“No. I’m starving.”

* * *

**_Nobu Restaurant in Malibu_ **  
_**1.30pm** _

“The last time you waved your fork around like that you asked me to fall off a cliff with you,” CJ observed after watching him in silence for a while.

“The realtor called.”

“Really?”

“Robert wants to give our -“

“Robert our _landlord_?”

“Yes. He wants to give our house to his _daughter_ , the one down the road to his _son_ , and put the one in Santa Monica on the market.”

“Okay ..”

“But before it goes on the market, Maggie wants to know if we’d like to see it.”

“To rent?”

Danny hesitated slightly before saying, “ _to buy_.” He waited a moment longer before adding, “I know we talked about moving into your house when both leases were up, but how would you feel about offering to extend your tenants’ lease and buying something together instead, now that this has come up?”

“Has Maggie taken you to see it already?”

Danny shook his head.

“She gave me the code to the gate, the combination to the key box, and said Robert was okay with us showing ourselves around. The tenants moved out a few days ago. They aren’t going to start work on staging it until Wednesday.”

The look he was giving her was not dissimilar to the one he had given her at the restaurant back when he’d worn his heart on his sleeve, but today she could feel doubts swirling in him as he broached the subject. Not doubts about her, though. It felt more like he was testing the waters for a much bigger conversation.

“Do _you_ want to see it?” she asked carefully.

“Yes,” he responded, just as carefully.

“Would you like to go right after lunch?” 

“Sure.”

* * *

**_446 23rd Street, Santa Monica CA 90402_ **  
_**3pm** _

“This is going to be a sticker shock kind of situation, isn't it?”

“Six point five asking price.”

CJ exhaled sharply.  
  
“But having the first female Chief of Staff as his tenant and potential buyer has made him amenable to negotiating,” Danny hastened to add.

“Not to mention the added bonus of having a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author in the house.”

“Actually I think it’s more the prospect of having Jed and Abbey Bartlet come visit sometimes that’s appealing. And, speaking of, did either one of them say anything to you at the wedding about going up to the farm?”

“Yes, and I’ve been meaning to ask you what that’s all about. Another book?”

“Potentially. I need to focus on getting the deal for the Nancy McNally bio off the ground first, but it can’t hurt to start the conversation. You okay with that?”

“Of course. Just tell me when and I'll have Margaret make it work with the schedule." She looked at the front door again. "Six point five, huh? Think we can pull it off, always assuming we like it?”

“How about we take a look around first and crunch numbers later?”

“This is a lot bigger than what we have now ..” she said in awe as they walked through the door.

“I should hope so, for this kind of money.”

They wandered around, taking in the natural palette and organic materials, and admiring things like the dual sided fireplace that was the centrepiece of the main level. When they’d inspected every nook and cranny, Danny took a seat on a couch on the patio overlooking the inground pool, and patted the space next to him.

“What do you think?”

CJ placed her head on his shoulder and relaxed against him as his fingers went straight to her hair.

“It's beautiful.”

“Five bedrooms. Plenty of room for us to grow. Or entertain,” he added hastily.

“We’re going to have to talk about that first part eventually, Danny.”

If they were going to delve into a bigger conversation it was as good a place to start as any. 

“Yeah. Do you want to talk about it now?”

“As we contemplate dropping six point five million dollars on a house would probably be a good time, don’t you think? I’m not busy for the rest of the afternoon. Are you?”

“No.”

“So ..”

“So ..”

“I think we’ve established that we’re not twenty-five anymore,” she said slowly, when it became clear that he wanted her to lead. “Which means that the patter of tiny feet may not be as easy to come by as it might have been eight or even five years ago. We could spend a lot of time _trying_ and getting frustrated. Which would do our relationship no good.”

“So what are you recommending?”

“Going off birth control ..”

“And behaving like the good Catholics we’re supposed to be, instead of the lapsed Catholics we actually are?”

CJ laughed and said, “something like that.”

She waited for him to say something else and, when he didn’t, stood from the couch and said, “do you want to take another look around?”

“C’mere ..” He pulled her back down and looked at her for a long moment before kissing her and pulling her into his side. “About that _other_ thing ..”

“What other thing?”

“The thing you mentioned, _obliquely_ , twice in DC.”

She fidgeted slightly and took a great interest in imaginary lint on her skirt until he turned her chin so that she was looking at him.

“I’m not saying I don’t want to, but we’ve talked about two major commitments in the space of a few hours. Really major commitments.”

“I know ..”

“And I’m good with both of them. _I am_.”

“But?”

He coloured slightly as he admitted, “I don’t even know how to put this.”

“You’re an old-fashioned kind of guy when it comes to this kind of thing?” she teased.

“Okay, now I’m feeling ridiculous, but yes. It sounded so much more romantic in my head. So it’s not _if_ but _when_ and-“

"Danny .." She cut him off with a kiss. “I can live with that."


End file.
